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Boundary County among Idaho leaders in several
areas of population growth |
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March 30, 2016 |
What is going on here?
According to data released last week by the U.S.
Census Bureau, rural Boundary County is among
the leaders of all Idaho counties in three
measures of population growth: total population
increase, percent population increase, and net
in-migration.
Consider this: of Idaho's 44 counties, Boundary
County is in the lower half of the rankings in
total population, coming in at #25 among all
Idaho counties with an estimated 2015 population
of 11,318 individuals, according to this most
recent, newly-released data.
But with a population growth of 3.1% between
July 2014 - July 2015, Boundary County ranks
second in the state in its percent population
growth, and is just barely behind first place
Boise County, which had 3.4% growth. Boise
County's growth may well be due to its commuting
distance proximity to Boise and Ada County, but
what explains remote, rural Boundary County's
growth?
In percent increase, Boundary County forged well
ahead of the state's urban counties, including
Ada County, which had only 1.7% increase, Canyon
County (Nampa area) with its rate of 2.2%,
Kootenai County with 2.1%, and Bonneville County
(Idaho Falls area) with 1.4% growth.
Even when you ignore percents, and just look at
how many individuals were added to the county
population, Boundary County again surpassed all
but five counties in the state. Boundary County
had a net increase of 341 individuals from the
counting period of July 2014 - July 2015. Take a
look at this list, which shows the top six
counties in population growth for the period:
NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS INCREASED :
1.
Ada: 7,364
2.
Canyon: 4,527
3.
Kootenai: 3,101
4.
Bonneville: 1,563
5.
Twin Falls 1,266
6.
Boundary: 341
Of course, the straight up numbers of population
increase in Boundary County are not going to
surpass Ada, Canyon, Kootenai, or Bonneville
counties, all of which have populations listed
in six figures, with Ada County approaching half
a million. But Boundary County's 341 person
increase leads other Idaho county population
heavyweights such as Bonner County, Bannock
County (Pocatello area), Twin Falls County,
Bingham County (Blackfoot area), and Latah
County, where Moscow and the University of Idaho
reside. All of those counties had population
increases less than Boundary County's 341.
Boundary County is also #6 of all Idaho counties
in net number of move-ins. Taking all who moved
into the county during the period, and
subtracting all who moved out, Boundary County
had 313 more people moving in than moving out.
Those 313 may not sound like a lot, but the net
move-ins here were more than those in 38 other
Idaho counties.
Looking at Idaho statewide, the state had a net
increase of 20,124 individuals, for a percent
increase of 1.2%, and a total estimated 2015
population of 1,654,930.
Looking at just number of individuals alone,
analysts point out that the state’s overall 1.2
percent population increase was concentrated in
the six urban counties of Ada, Canyon, Kootenai,
Bonneville, Bannock and Twin Falls, accounting
for 90 percent of the state's population growth
and 65 percent of Idaho's overall population.
But they can't escape the fact that Boundary
County is #2 in the state in percent population
increase, #6 in the state in net move-ins, and
#6 in the state in population numerical
increase.
Here is the table of data released by the Census
Bureau:
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